The surge of Oregon COVID-19 patients is stretching hospitals limits - OPB
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COVID-19 has now claimed 3,000 lives in Oregon. That figure was part of Fridays troubling update on a pandemic that is overrunning Oregons hospitals, as the state recorded its fifth straight day with new cases exceeding the 2,000 mark.
State officials and those operating hospitals have an urgent message to Oregonians: if you are unvaccinated, stay home and avoid non-essential activities. If you are vaccinated, you should also take precautions and avoid taking risks that could land you in the hospital.
It sounds a lot like what health officials were asking Oregonians to do when the pandemic began in March of 2020. But now, the situation in Oregon hospitals is much worse.
Our health care system is on the verge of collapse in parts of the state. The numbers grow every day, Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said.
There are 890 people in Oregons hospitals with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, about 300 more than have been hospitalized at any other point in this pandemic. Its the first time Oregons hospitals have had to handle COVID-19 patient volumes like this.
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health care system are widespread.
Every bed on this intensive care unit at Oregon Health and Science University is critically ill with COVID-19 in Portland, Ore., Aug. 19, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Hospitals around Oregon are starting their days with no intensive care unit beds available. And as of Wednesday, 93% of all the hospital beds in the state were full. Thats not even the entire picture.
At CHI Mercy Health Medical Center in Roseburg, doctors faced one of their biggest fears: a hospital so full that a patient died after waiting four hours for an ICU bed.
Emergency room doctors and nurses cared for him while they tried to find him staff and space.
Related: Inside OHSUs fight to save the regions sickest COVID-19 patients
Were asking ER doctors to step beyond their comfort zone and take care of some patients or conditions that normally would be in the critical care unit or the cardiac care unit. And it places everyone in a very difficult situation, said Dr. Jason Gray, the hospitals chief medical officer, in an interview with OPBs Think Out Loud.
Usually, when hospital officials talk about available beds, they mean staffed beds. But at Providence Medford Medical Center, where some units are operating at 120% capacity. Thats so many people, according to Providence Medford Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Kuhl, that literally, were out of physical beds.
At St. Charles Health System in Bend, there were 62 COVID-19 patients Thursday taking up about a third of its acute care beds. Oregon has fewer staffed hospital beds per person than most states, so theres not a lot of room to expand capacity.
These are beds that are being utilized for these very important patients with a severe infection. But [COVID-19 patients] are also taking the place of beds that are much needed for other care, said Jeff Absalon, the president and CEO of St. Charles Health. When you hear numbers about capacity, what I want you to know is, we are at or over capacity in our hospitals throughout the state.
Those full hospitals have spillover effects. At Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland, all four intensive care units were completely full.
This overloaded health care system has consequences for everyone, not just the unvaccinated.
Since the pandemic began, St. Charles has canceled or postponed over 3,000 scheduled surgeries.
These are not cosmetic surgeries. These are patients that have cancer, heart disease, neurological disease, surgeries that are necessary to preserve life and function and theyre being delayed right now, Absalon said.
Only patients with the most severe surgical needs are being seen, Absalon explained. I dont want to mince my words here: we are rationing care.
Hospitals are so full that emergency departments are experiencing long wait times, bad enough that ambulances have to wait longer to get their patients in. And once patients are admitted to the emergency department, they could wait days for critical care beds to become available.
This is why Absalon is asking people to stop taking risks that could expose them to the coronavirus. And that doesnt just mean avoiding crowded, maskless bars.
What scares me the most about this is whats been alluded to. If someone gets in an accident or has a heart attack or need for acute care, they might not get the care they need in a timely fashion, Absalon said. This is a time to really be cautious about your activities and keep yourself safe.
On Aug. 13, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced the deployment of 1,500 National Guard troops to support frontline health care workers. The first 500 are being sent to hospitals in Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, and Josephine counties, which have fewer resources, serve large areas and have been hard-hit by the virus. Some have already arrived.
At this point, the National Guard is assisting with non-caregiver-type work, Kuhl said.
Hospitals in Columbia, Curry and Marion counties and the Portland metro area will receive the next wave of Guard members.
Oregon has also requested almost 500 health care workers from other states from nurses to respiratory technicians and is contracting with nursing crisis teams.
It will take weeks for much of this medical worker support to arrive, and hospitals are full right now.
On Aug. 11, Brown reinstated a mask mandate to combat the rising cases. But even as Oregonians take precautions, case numbers keep rising. And the people who get sick today may need hospital beds in the future.
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In room after room at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital's COVID-19 intensive care unit, patients are sedated and on life support, many of them much younger than the people sickened by the coronavirus earlier waves. As they tend to patients, the nurses, doctors and support staff on duty report feeling the strain.
A patient with COVID-19 died on Wednesday while waiting for an intensive care unit bed at Mercy Health Hospital in Roseburg.
Oregons hospitals are preparing for an influx of National Guard troops next week, to help with COVID-19 cases.
Tags:Science & Environment, COVID-19
A driver may have intentionally hit a COVID-19 vaccine worker in Newhall, Sheriffs officials say LA Daily News
NASHVILLE, Tenn (WTVF) Conservative talk radio host Phil Valentine has died following a lengthy battle with COVID-19. He was 61 years old.
His death was announced by SuperTalk 99.7 WTN on Saturday afternoon after he had been battling the virus for more than a month.
On July 11, Valentine confirmed via his Facebook page that he had been diagnosed with COVID.
He was a prominent voice on Nashville radio for decades.
Valentine moved to talk radio full time in 1995, but in 2000, he received national attention by helping to organize horn honking protests against a proposed state income tax in Tennessee.
He broadcast his conservative talk radio show from outside the state Capitol, and urged people to drive by and make noise.
"We are going to have a one minute solid horn honking and we want you to participate in that," Valentine said from his broadcast booth.
Many credit the passionate protests with helping to defeat the state income tax which was proposed by a Republican Governor.
He later wrote a book about the protests called Tax Revolt.
It was one of several books he wrote during his career.
Valentine often discussed how his father was a Democrat and spent 12 years as a US Congressman.
But Valentine said he left the Democratic Party after Ronald Reagan became President.
His strong opinions helped get his radio show syndicated. It aired on stations across the country.
But his greatest influence was in Tennessee.
When Valentine felt Republican Speaker of House Glen Casada lied on his show by claiming a NewsChannel 5 investigation was inaccurate, he turned on Casada.
"It's always the cover-up that's worse," Valentine said.
"I'm expecting honest answers. I'm not expecting somebody to use me to spin his story and spin his web," Valentine said of Casada.
Not long after that Casada resigned as Speaker after losing support from a majority of Republican representatives.
Recently Valentine voiced skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine.
In December of 2020 he tweeted "I have a very low risk of A) Getting COVID and B) dying of it if I do. Why would I risk getting a heart attack or paralysis by getting the vaccine?"
He even recorded a parody song - Vaxman - mocking the vaccine.
In July, he told his audience he had COVID and he expected to be back soon.
But later updates from family and friends indicated how serious it was.
Valentine's brother said Phil regretted not being more pro-vaccine and wrote if he got back on the radio he would encourage people to get vaccinated.
According to family, Valentine fought hard, but was unable to beat the virus.
Frederick County reported its first death from the coronavirus in two weeks over the weekend as infections and hospitalizations from the virus continued to steadily climb.
The county tallied 58 new coronavirus cases and recorded a seven-day positivity rate of 6.98 percent on Sunday higher than Marylands overall rate of 5.08 percent. It recorded 78 new cases on Aug. 17, the highest daily total since the first week of February. Infections have been surging in the county since early July, according to spokespeople from the countys health department.
Shawn Dennison and Rissah Watkins of the health department said via email it was nearly impossible to accurately predict future patterns in the spread of the virus and its many variants. They stated weekly numbers of new cases confirmed by testing in the county are projected to increase steadily over the next three weeks, which is as far out as forecasts extend.
As the highly contagious delta variant continues to circulate, case totals are ballooning across the country. America is averaging more than 800 newly reported deaths every day about twice as many as in early August according to data from The New York Times.
Hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Frederick County began increasing three weeks ago, according to information provided by Dennison and Watkins. As of Friday, Frederick Health Hospital reported that it was treating 20 people with the virus, five of whom were in its intensive care unit. Similar to trends seen across the country, most of those hospitalized from the virus in Fredericks hospital are unvaccinated, hospital spokeswoman Kelsey Shupe wrote in an email.
Currently, 60.1 percent of people living in Frederick County are fully vaccinated, according to health department data as of Sunday. Thats a slightly higher proportion than those who are fully vaccinated in Maryland overall and about 10 percentage points higher than the rate of Americans who are fully vaccinated.
According to Dennison and Watkins, the relatively high number of people who are vaccinated in the county has helped reduce the number of people who need to be hospitalized after becoming infected. But they noted that as the number of people testing positive for the virus increases, the number of people entering the hospital system will also increase even if it is a lower percent of those who needed to be hospitalized after becoming infected in prior surges of the virus.
Frederick County has seen a steady decline in demand for the vaccine since earlier in the summer. Still, 1,316 people received their first shot last week higher than any weekly total between mid-June and late July.
The health department is preparing to offer coronavirus booster shots after health officials announced a plan last week for all U.S. adults who received a two-dose vaccine to get another jab within eight months of their second one. Dennison and Watkins wrote that the countys health department is working with its state counterpart to determine how the rollout of boosters will be administered and is collaborating with vaccine providers throughout Frederick. The county will continue providing vaccinations at its Oak Street location and at mobile clinics, they added.
Meanwhile, Frederick Health Hospital has begun giving coronavirus booster shots to immunocompromised patients, following the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions approval of additional doses for this population on Aug. 13.
As the state of the pandemic continues to worsen in the county, the health department has reinforced its coronavirus testing and contact tracing capacity, Dennison and Watkins wrote. The department is also monitoring cases and hospitalizations in the community and is working with the CDC, the state health department and the community to circulate reliable information about the virus.
With coronavirus transmission levels considered high in Frederick County and much of the country Watkins and Dennison encouraged people to wear masks when in public indoor settings. Doing so provides the wearer with an extra layer of protection and reduces the spread of the virus, especially among people they interact with daily whose immune systems may not be able to prevent a severe infection, Watkins and Dennison wrote.
They also encouraged people to get tested if they have coronavirus symptoms or come in contact with someone with a confirmed case of the virus and to wash their hands frequently.
And if you havent been vaccinated yet, Dennison and Watkins said you should get the shot as soon as possible. The vaccines available have shown great efficacy at reducing the possibility of severe disease, hospitalization and death from the virus, including the delta variant.
Our health care workers have been hit very hard for over 17 months, Dennison and Watkins wrote. If you have not been vaccinated and still have questions, contact your health care provider or talk to someone whos been vaccinated.
Follow Angela Roberts on Twitter: @24_angier
Hospitals in the South and Midwest say they are treating more children with Covid-19 than ever and are preparing for worse surges to come.
Cases there have jumped over the past six weeks as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads primarily among unvaccinated people. That is leading to more sick kids in places where community spread of the variant is high, public-health experts say.
Children under age 12 arent yet eligible to be vaccinated, and vaccination rates for those between 12 and 17 remain relatively low, according to data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Although children are much less likely than adults to develop severe Covid-19 or die from the virus, recent data from the Department of Health and Human Services show pediatric hospitalizations for Covid-19 are at the highest point since the agency began tracking them last year, driven by states that have been hit hard by the Delta variant.
Childrens hospitals are bracing for even more cases as schools reopen. They are hiring more nurses, reworking discharge protocols, speeding up room cleanings, laying contingency plans to expand bed capacity and preparing staff for an uptick in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C. A rare condition that can occur several weeks after Covid-19 infection, MIS-C can lead to organ damage or even death without the proper diagnosis and management.
It isnt clear whether the Delta variant is making kids sicker than they would have been if infected with previous strains. Some pediatricians believe that is the case because of the severity of the cases they have treated. Other pediatricians dont think Delta is causing more severe Covid-19 in children than earlier variants. But with Delta spreading widely, the number of children hospitalized with Covid-19 far outstrips anything they saw in the past.
Syracuse University will require weekly COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated students, faculty and staff during the fall 2021 semester.
As of June 1, all students are required to be fully vaccinated in order to access campus, Chancellor Kent Syverud announced in a campus-wide email in April.
SU allows medical or religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine, but those who are unvaccinated must participate in COVID-19 testing once per week, said Mike Haynie, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation, in a June SU news release. The university will regularly monitor compliance with this testing requirement, he said.
Testing for unvaccinated SU faculty, staff and students will occur in Kimmel Dining Hall. The university will continue to provide testing for all campus community members, including employees family members, regardless of vaccination status.
Beginning Aug. 30, the Kimmel testing center will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 7 p.m on Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.
Appointments are not required for testing. Those undergoing testing must bring their SU ID and refrain from brushing their teeth, using mouthwash, chewing gum, eating, drinking (including water) or using tobacco products 30 minutes prior to testing.
SU is currently under a BLUE level alert under its COVID-19 alert framework, which means unvaccinated students, faculty, staff and visitors are required to wear masks indoors at all times and outdoors in the presence of others. Vaccinated people are recommended to wear masks indoors when in the presence of others and in large groups outdoors.
Additionally, everyone regardless of vaccination status is required to wear masks in academic settings and during non-academic events on a case-by-case basis at the current alert level.
If a student tests positive for COVID-19, the universitys COVID-19 Project Management Office staff will make arrangements for them to enter isolation housing at no cost, according to SUs COVID-19 response checklists page.
If a faculty or staff member tests positive, they may not continue working in person and must stay home for the required isolation period until an HR Shared Services representative clears them to return to work, according to the page. Contact tracers will work with both SU employees and students to identify any close contacts and notify them of exposure.
More than 96% of students, faculty and staff are at least partially vaccinated or have a religious or medical exemption, Syverud said in a campus-wide email on Aug. 20.
Published on August 22, 2021 at 9:38 pm
DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) Health officials are reporting more COVID-19 cases in children and with a return to school, were asking school leaders how and when theyll let parents know about possible outbreaks at their childs school.
Durham Public Schools says families can expect a robocall whenever a COVID-19 case pops up.
I think that the level of concern about delta (variant) is driving us to communicate more widely about these cases, said Chip Sudderth, Durham Public Schools chief communications officer.
Durham will also notify immediate close contacts and all staff members.
Wake County Public School System says it will notify close contacts within one to two days of that reported case to let them know about the need to quarantine.
Johnston County says it will also notify close contacts. Most districts also have dashboards where parents can keep up with cases.
With more children coming down with COVID-19 cases, Sudderth says parents are really taking this seriously.
Parents are telling us they want to know. They just simply want to know whats happening in their school, Sudderth said.
Puerto Rico has some of the best COVID-19 vaccination rates in the US. Here's how the island did it USA TODAY
OSWEGO COUNTY - The Oswego County Health Department will hold its next COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Wednesday, Aug. 25 at the Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic, 70 Bunner St., Oswego. From 1 to 5:30 p.m., health staff will administer the Pfizer vaccine to those aged 12 and above. The Pfizer vaccine is a two-dose series, so those who come in for their first dose will be offered an appointment to come back for their second dose on Wednesday, Sept. 15.
Our COVID-19 vaccine clinics are open to anyone who is eligible for the vaccine, regardless of where they are in the series, said Oswego County Medical Director Dr. Christina Liepke. Patients can come in for their first, second or third dose.
She continued, Patients need to talk with their health care providers before they come to the clinic to find if they should receive a third dose because only certain people with underlying conditions need it. We encourage patients to bring a note from their provider stating that they are eligible for the third dose.
A third dose is different from a booster, she explained. Immuno-compromised patients who need a third dose should get it 28 days (or later) after their second dose. In contrast, a booster is given to all patients several months after they complete their vaccine series. The CDC and FDA are considering the possibility of recommending a booster for patients who have had the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine eight months after they received their second dose. Once the New York State Department of Health approves this, we will be offering booster vaccines as well.
Walk-ins are welcomed at the vaccination clinic, although appointments and online pre-registration are still appreciated to help reduce wait times and maintain efficient clinic operations. Go to https://health.oswegocounty.com/ and click on the link for Local Information About the COVID-19 Vaccination.
Attendees should bring identification to confirm their age and identity. Those with health insurance should bring their insurance cards. However, health insurance is not required and there is no out-of-pocket expense to get the vaccine. Those without health insurance can still get vaccinated at no cost.
To prepare for their appointment, people are advised to be well-hydrated before they come in and to continue to hydrate afterward. They should also eat beforehand and dress in comfortable layers of clothing that can be removed if they get over-heated.
For more information about COVID-19 vaccines, click on the Fact Sheet link for each one at https://covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/.
Oswego County and Oswego County Opportunities, Inc. are partnering to offer free transportation to residents to go to COVID-19 test and vaccination sites. The service is available Monday through Saturday between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Call 315-598-1514 to schedule a ride in advance.
For more information, go to the Oswego County Health Departments COVID-19 page at health.oswegocounty.com/covid-19 or call its COVID-19 Hotline at 315-349-3330. Phone lines are open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For information about emotional supports, visit the Oswego County Department of Social Services Division of Mental Hygiene at www.oswegocounty.com/mentalhygiene.
Under New York State Public Health Law, the Oswego County Health Department is the local public health authority regarding the COVID-19 pandemic response within the County of Oswego. The Oswego County Health Department works closely with New York State Department of Health regarding COVID-19 monitoring, response and reporting.
The Homeland Security Department is instructing its screeners to keep special watch for counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards after a recent influx at U.S. ports.
Customs and Border Protection officers have seized 7,000 fake cards imitating those produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency official said, including 3,000 this week in Anchorage, Alaska. CBPs Office of Intelligence has monitored the development and sent instructions to the field to keep an eye out for the counterfeits, where officers rely on manual searches and technology such as x-rays to identify suspicious materials.
We were on the lookout because we knew it was just a matter of time, said Jaime Ruiz, a CBP spokesman. He explained the agencys officers have intercepted improper personal protective equipment and fake vaccines for months, meaning officers were already on high alert.
The counterfeit vaccine cards have come from China through private shippers, such as FedEx, DHL and UPS. Those shipments would likely take two-to-three weeks to arrive if sent through the U.S. Postal Service, Ruiz said, and the current trend tracks with recent history when shippers of hot products instead opt for express options. All private sector international packages go through a screening as they are processed through customs.
In addition to Anchorage, CBP screeners have seen a spike of fake cards in Memphis. All packages go through an x-ray and officers pull those that look suspicious or anomalous. Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress required all packages sent through private shippers to include advanced electronic data that provides information on their contents. If an international item is labeled as containing shoes but an x-ray does not display shoes, Ruiz said as an example, it would trigger an action by CBP.
In the case of the counterfeit vaccine cards, screeners noted a series of small envelopes all from the same sender going out to a wide number of locations across the country. Each envelope contained between 30 and a few hundred of the cards. Typically, seized items would include synthetic drugs, counterfeit goods and other illicit materials, but screeners have noted a shift since the outset of the pandemic.
Getting these fraudulent cards off the streets and out of the hands of those who would then sell them is important for the safety of the American public, said Lance Robinson, director of the Area Port of Anchorage.Looking out for the welfare of our fellow Alaskans is one of the many and varied responsibilities CBP is proud to take on.
CBP, through its intelligence office, coordinates the sharing of information obtained on the ground from across the country. That effort is heightened when there is new demand for a product, as created by the recent uptick in vaccine mandates to go to restaurants, attend concerts or continue working.
Were always looking for new trends, Ruiz said.
Ruiz noted the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations will now take charge inmovingforward with the cases, including potential prosecutions. The FBI reminded the public this week not to use fake vaccine cards, saying in a statement it both endangers the public and is a federal crime.
We dont have a whole lot of information, we just want to raise the alarm, Ruiz said. Someone, somewhere is trying to make a profit.
